17 April 2019 : The People’s Bank of China is singing a different tune compared to the dovish tones coming from major central banks around the world. The PBoC released a statement from its April 12 meeting, saying the Chinese economy “has shown healthy development and economic growth is resilient”.

Such rhetoric frames the expectations surrounding Wednesday’s release of China’s Q1 GDP, industrial output, and retail sales data, as the Yuan remains steady against the US Dollar around the 6.71 handle at the time of writing.

However, markets are also interpreting this confident outlook as reason for the PBoC to withhold more stimulus; the PBoC has previously said it would not “flood” the economy with excessive liquidity. With market sentiment perhaps over-reliant on the potential for more stimulus measures, equity markets have indulged in some profit-taking, with the Shanghai Composite Index some 100 points off its highest level since March 2018.

Source : Lukman Otunuga, FXTM Research Analyst 

Reporting for EasyKobo on Wednesday , 17 April 2019 in Lagos, Nigeria